Board Game Publisher and Writer

conventions

I wrote this a few years back right after GenCon…it still feels fitting.

August 21, 2015

Today

16:45

Tiddledumkins:

So I totally have a list of work to do and laundry and picking up and all the things…. I don’t wanna. Why does the day after a gaming convention gotta be so hard?

16:46

Cardboard Copacetic:

Yeah, I know. I looked at work email, responded to some of it, and got depressed and stressed out again like I was before I got to the con. At least I have laundry going.

16:46

Tiddledumkins:

Not me! I finally made real food though.

16:46

Cardboard Copacetic:

I always come home feeling like shit physically and emotionally. I haven’t worked up the strength to go to the grocery store.

16:47

Tiddledumkins:

Well this con especially! All the running and screaming was brutal. I had frozen stuff… really I just warmed/thawed.

16:47

Cardboard Copacetic:

That still counts.

16:47

Tiddledumkins:

It does? Woo!

16:47

Cardboard Copacetic:

Look at us adulting!

16:47

Tiddledumkins:

Doin’ it.

16:48

Cardboard Copacetic:

#winning

16:49

Tiddledumkins:

On the drive home we stopped in Lawrence for food. There were painted… bears? Cows? I have a picture of me looking like I’ve been on a crack binge with a large ceramic animal decorated in a pink tutu. That is just how the end of cons are.

16:49

Cardboard Copacetic:

Keep that handy for when people ask what you do at cons.

16:49

Tiddledumkins:

It’s going on my business card. Plus I certainly can’t show them the other pictures once they were confiscated.

16:50

Cardboard Copacetic:

Perfect, I’m sure it will look completely business- worthy. My pictures were taken too. Had to shut down my live feed of the playtesting. It totally ruins my blog for the month. Hey, I have an idea for the cowbear pic- use it as a background watermark on your next resume!

16:50

Tiddledumkins:

I am supposed to be sending one out today! Also I’m editing a short piece for a deadline at 9am tomorrow. I’m thinking of attaching it as the illustration…or my bio picture.

16:51

Cardboard Copacetic:

Do it. All the cool kids are putting terrible pictures of themselves on important things.

16:51

Tiddledumkins:

It makes me wonder… there were so many podcasters and bloggers there… is there a collage of all the carnage in some government building? That’s a morbid thought. Sigh. Tell me I have to go do laundry.

16:56

Cardboard Copacetic:

You have to not do laundry. Shit. I fucked that up.

16:56

Tiddledumkins:

lol

I’m gonna be the smelly kid in class.

16:59

Cardboard Copacetic:

I’m doing important stuff. I’m organizing my boxes for a haul picture. Because nothing says “I don’t have a problem” quite like taking a picture of said problem and posting it on the internet. It will have to make up for this weekends deleted posts. It will be epic.

16:59

Tiddledumkins:

I was kinda getting rid of books for more game space… cheers to that. I have a kindle now, so it’s totally fine. No gaming habit problem here either. BTW…. whatcha get?

17:00

Cardboard Copacetic:

Everything

17:01

Tiddledumkins:

I’ll wait for the picture

17:11

Cardboard Copacetic:

17:12

Tiddledumkins:

Ah-MAZE-ing

17:12

Cardboard Copacetic:

My new LinkedIn profile picture.

17:12

Tiddledumkins:

That is classy. Now they know you mean business.

17:14

Cardboard Copacetic:

Totes profesh.

17:17

Tiddledumkins:

For reals.

17:20

Cardboard Copacetic:

I don’t want to adult anymore.

17:20

Tiddledumkins:

I know. It’s just yuck. The unpacking, sorting and cleaning is such a letdown. I was on high energy all weekend. I was so excited to get there, to set up of all our displays, and then being interviewed and signing books was such a rush. Even the adrenaline of running for my life with the- you know. I barely slept the whole time. Now I just feel exhausted all over, and all there is to look forward to is the stupid laundry. I hate laundry. Can you tell?

Would a pic of me with a bear in a tutu help? It’s really all I have to offer right now.

17:22

Cardboard Copacetic:

Yes. It would

17:22

Tiddledumkins:

17:22

Cardboard Copacetic:

Wow. You totally look coked out of your head.

17:22

Tiddledumkins:

Right?

17:23

Cardboard Copacetic:

Is that from happiness or exhaustion?

17:23

Tiddledumkins:

I am titling it….”Con Survivor.”

17:24

Cardboard Copacetic:

That works.

17:24

Tiddledumkins:

I was happy that I didn’t have to move while the picture was being taken? And there was something to lean on… plus the bear did not come to life and try to maul me. I might have been testing myself a little.

17:25

Cardboard Copacetic:

Makes perfect sense.

17:25

Tiddledumkins:

That’s good… I was fearful it may be ridiculous. OK I am going to try the laundry thing. I am. Right now.

17:26

Cardboard Copacetic:

OK. I’ll be here waiting for you to come right back.

17:37

Tiddledumkins:

First load is in the wash!

17:40

Cardboard Copacetic:

You go, girl!

17:41

Tiddledumkins:

Thanks, I needed that.

17:42

Cardboard Copacetic:

I don’t want to get groceries.

17:42

Tiddledumkins:

But…. food is delicious.

17:42

Cardboard Copacetic:

I know, but it involves adulting. And people. And going outside, where it might not be safe.

17:43

Tiddledumkins:

Don’t think about it that way! It’s like the tutu bearcow. You have to face those fears before they become ingrained. All our lives statues haven’t come to life and crushed people. And Cthulhu cosplayers were just people in costume. Dragons aren’t real. It was just this one weekend! You can’t let it affect the rest of everything. It’s all normal now.

I would bring you food if I lived closer, and there wasn’t outside.

17:43

Cardboard Copacetic:

Well, you’re a sweetheart for offering.

17:44

Tiddledumkins:

I’m half Italian. I have a genetic need to feed all the people. It’s a compulsion really.

17:44

Cardboard Copacetic:

Oh, so I’m not special then. Got it.

17:44

Tiddledumkins:

You are special. That’s just silly.

17:44

Cardboard Copacetic:

Did you see Tiffany at all?

17:48

Tiddledumkins:

She swung by while I was doing an interview… and when I looked up, she was gone again. One minute she was standing there, arms crossed, giving me her patented smirk, the next she was in the mouth of that dragon. It was a dragon right?

17:49

Cardboard Copacetic:

It was definitely a dragon.

17:49

Tiddledumkins:

It was so big, and my brain wouldn’t really see it, you know? But the dragon was chewing on her. Then I was running with a mass of people and she was gone. It was like a mirage. I almost messaged her an hour ago to say I hoped she had a good con. Also, my deadline for tomorrow, just got illustrated. I have art for an unfinished piece.

17:52

Cardboard Copacetic:

That’s good, right? #conbrain

17:53

Tiddledumkins:

It means I REALLY need to finish my edits and turn it into the editor, right now.

17:53

Cardboard Copacetic:

Oh. So that’s bad.

17:55

Tiddledumkins:

It’s a mixed thing. On the one hand, someone read my rough draft and made a pretty. On the other, I have to make it worth reading.

17:56

Cardboard Copacetic:

I’ll help! I can sometimes make words go ok!

17:57

Tiddledumkins:

Thanks, but I have to be adult for this one. They think I am one, like, all the time.

17:58

Cardboard Copacetic:

Nice job fooling them!

17:58

Tiddledumkins:

It was totally an accident, no idea how I pulled it off. Plus you have to get food; no doing my edits, and I can’t shop for you.